Eighteen Inches
by SunnyBunnylove77
Summary: AU one-shot/song-fic. Artemis's dad doesn't approve of her relationship with Wally. So they pack their bags one night and run away together. WallArt Spitfire. With a hint of RobinxZatanna and SuperMartian. Rated T because I'm paranoid. Please read and review!


**Hi! I'm new writing about Young Justice, I've never tried it before and I'm not sure how this came out. I hope I did justice to the characters. I just LOVE Wally x Artemis! They are adorable together. I also love this song and got a lot of inspiration from it. Please no harsh comments and sorry if they turn out OOC. Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice, it belongs to DC and Cartoon Network. I do not own the song Eighteen Inches it belongs to Lauren Alaina.**

**Eighteen Inches**

Artemis looked out her window waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up. She was done packing her suitcase an hour ago but she knew that he wouldn't come for another thirty minutes. Sitting there gave her time to think.

Artemis comes from a dysfunctional family, her mom is in a wheel chair, her dad is mean and picks fights with everyone, and her sister has a criminal record. But even though they may not be the most typical, average family she still wouldn't change anything about them. Surprisingly enough, Artemis is closest to her father. He taught her Karate since she was about 5, he yelled and screamed at her if she wasn't doing something right and he didn't give her much attention even though they spent the most time together. But despite the harsh childhood he gave her, Artemis still loved him and only wanted his approval her whole life.

And that's also why she's running away at three thirty in the morning. Her father disapproves of her boyfriend of 3 years, who has also been her best friend since she was 10. He's forbidden her to see him ever again. One time Artemis snuck out of her house to secretly see him, her father noticed and followed her. When he caught her with him he was extremely angry and attacked him, punching and kicking him till he could barely move. Her boyfriend didn't fight back though because he didn't want to hurt her father so he let him kick and punch him as long as he wanted. This, of course, upset Artemis.

She so badly wanted to see him after that but was afraid her dad would follow her again. But they did meet again, in a grocery store of all places, and he asked her if she would run away with him. Artemis knew she couldn't live without him, so she listened to her heart instead of her head for once, and said yes.

That was one week ago. Now they packed everything, planned out where they would go, officially graduated from high school, both turned eighteen and were ready to leave their small town for a big adventure across the country.

Artemis knew this was a big step, and was slightly terrified. There was no one waiting for their visit, all their family is here and they have limited money. But she wanted to be with the one she loved more than anything so she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and instead started writing a note to her family explaining why she left and that she wasn't being kidnapped.

When she sees his blue car near the driveway from the window she knows it's time for her to go. Artemis looks around her room once more to see if she left anything that she wanted to bring. When she knew she had everything she grabbed her suitcase off the floor, said goodbye silently and climbed out the window.

When she got in the car she said hi to her boyfriend, Wally West, and gave him a kiss on the check. He smiled at her and started driving away. As he drove she couldn't help but stare at him. Wally has red hair that was untamed and wild; secretly she loves his hair the most even though he hates it, he has emerald green eyes that sparkle with mischief, and freckles sprinkled over his nose and cheeks. Wally is also lean and muscular from his years in track.

_It's about fifteen hundred miles to California,  
>they'll get there Friday if they leave tonight,<br>she sneaks out at three thirty in the morning,  
>leaves a note so she won't see her daddy cry.<em>

_He cuts the engine when he coasts in the driveway,_  
><em>she slides in and gives him one kiss for the road,<em>  
><em>no friends and no family, no job out there waiting,<em>  
><em>the whole town will call them crazy but they gotta go.<em>

Wally reaches over, grabs Artemis's hand and gives it a light squeeze and asks, "How are you? Sad? Regretful?"

"No," Artemis gives his hand a light squeeze back, "What about you? Sad your leaving your family and friends?"

"As long as I'm with you, I'm fine. Besides family can always visit. It's not like I won't ever see them again." Wally responds back.

"Well _your_family can visit, I won't ever see mine again," Artemis looks out the window for a minute thinking, then turned back to face Wally, "But strangely I'm okay with that. I mean yeah, they are my family but… I was never really close with any of them. Jade ran away years ago, mom doesn't really want to talk to me much since I'm so much like my dad, and well you know what my dad's like."

Wally looks at her for a bit then puts his eyes back on the road, "My family _is_your family Arty. Mom adores you, dad hopes we never break up, Uncle Barry believes we're secretly married already and are running away because you're pregnant," Wally laughs loudly at the thought, "And Aunt Iris says that we need another strong-willed female in the family, as if there aren't enough already."

Artemis chuckles and says, "Iris has a point, if there weren't us, strong-willed females than who knows what you, Barry and your dad would be doing right now," Then reached over and lightly hit him on the arm, "And don't call me Arty, _Wallace_."

Wally cringes at the sound of his full first name, "Fine, but don't call me that. Deal?"

"Deal," Artemis smirked.

'_Cause when you're young and in love, yeah,_  
><em>you might do some things that don't seem all that smart,<em>  
><em>'cause there ain't no greater distance than<br>the eighteen inches from your head to your heart, yeah._

After two years of living in California, life was getting easier. Wally and Artemis now live in an old apartment, much nicer than the last one but still not great. Artemis is a waitress at a diner and Wally is a valet at a five star Italian restaurant. The rent on their two bedroom, one bath apartment is more than they can afford but they somehow always manage to pay the monthly bill. But because it's higher than they'd like it to be, they don't always pay for their other bills, causing them to be behind. And the car that Wally had for four years now is starting to give out on them. The car is barely running and they can't afford to fix it, they both just hope that it'll last till they get some money to pay for a new car.

But, despite their financial problems, Wally always seems to have a few extra bucks to take Artemis out on a nice date every once in a while. Artemis noticed that this date was much nicer than usual; they weren't at a cheap restaurant but a nice one where the waiters wear suits and ties. Artemis also noticed that Wally seemed nervous and also a bit excited, which was strange since this wasn't there first date or anything.

And it was even stranger when she noticed that he seemed more nervous as the date went on. Finally she asked, "Wally… are you ok? You seem really nervous."

Distractedly he said, "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. You, uh, wanna go for a walk?"

"Sure?" She said but it sounded more like a question than an answer.

After paying for their meal, they walked around to the back of the restaurant. Wally came up behind her and put his hands over her eyes, "Don't peek. It's a surprise."

Artemis could just hear the smile in his voice and joked, "This better be good."

It was a short, quiet walk. Finally Wally removed his hands and said, "Alright Beautiful, open your eyes."

When she spotted the gazebo her jaw nearly dropped. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight. The gazebo had candles lit up all around, with flower petals sprinkled across the floor. A little table was on one side with a plate full of chocolate covered strawberries and two chairs near the table. The gazebo was overlooking the water, and since the sun had just set, the sky still had some orange and pink in it. There was soft music playing in the background.

Artemis gasped then turned to face Wally, "What is all this?"

Wally scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Well, uh, I just wanted to, uh, do something romantic. You like?"

She laughed softly at how nervous he was, "Yes, Wally. I think it's beautiful."

"That's good, but the surprise isn't over yet," Wally continued to fidget; his hand was playing with something in his pocket.

"There's more?" She asked confused, she was already overwhelmed with the romantic setting.

"Yeah," Wally cleared his throat, "Artemis you're the most amazing person I've ever met. You're strong, independent, nice when you want to be, and a real spitfire. But I love you. I love every quality about you, even when you are hitting me, yelling at me for something I did wrong or just in a grumpy mood in general. When I see you I always feel happier, the sun seems brighter, the world just seems to slow down and all I see and think and feel is you." Wally got down on one knee.

Artemis gasped and put her hand over her mouth when she realized what was happening. She now understood why he was nervous. Tears started to form, blurring her vision slightly, when he pulled out the object that he was playing with in his pocket all night.

"Artemis, what I'm really trying to say is…" He opened the small black box, inside was a ring with a silver band and small diamonds on top, "Will you, Artemis Crock, marry me?"

_Yes_, she said. But she must've just said it in her head since he didn't move, so she said it again, "Yes. Yes, Wallace West I will marry you."

A big grin spread across his face as he slid the ring on her finger. Wally picked her up and spun her around screaming at the top of his lungs, "YES! SHE SAID YES!" Artemis just laughed at her new fiancé's excited attitude. The smile on her face grew bigger with the thought of them engaged after 5 years. She was wondering when it would happen.

_They can barely make rent on a rundown apartment,_  
><em>she's waiting tables and he's a valet,<em>  
><em>they're behind on the bills and the car's barely running,<em>  
><em>but he buys a ring with the tips that he's saved.<em>

Artemis looked around the room, smiling. She just got married to Wally West and they were now partying and celebrating. The room they rented was crowded with all their friends and family. The majority of the guests were out on the dance floor.

She saw Megan, her best friend since they moved to California that was also her co-worker, dancing with her boyfriend Conner. They have been going out for about three years now after Conner finally asked her out. He used to go into the diner everyday and would chat with Megan all the time but never had the guts to actually ask her out. Finally Artemis yelled at him to man up and grow a pair. They were together by the end of the day.

Robin was sitting at the bar, chatting with Zatanna. Robin was a friend of Wally's, he moved to California a year after they did. His real name was Dick but he was obsessed with the Batman comics, mostly about Robin, and it was a nickname that stuck since childhood. Zatanna used to work at the diner that she and Megan worked at but quit. She wanted to pursue her dream of becoming a famous magician, she's actually really amazing. Artemis introduced them to each other and they clicked really well. They started going out a year ago.

Kaldur was dancing with someone. He just recently started going out with her. Artemis didn't know much about the girl yet.

Iris and Barry were dancing. Iris was laughing as Barry was twirling her around in a circle. And her new in-laws were sitting at some tables enjoying some cake or dancing.

She sighed to herself, enjoying the moment. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist from behind and kissed her on the cheek, "Enjoying yourself?"

Artemis turned her head slightly to get a better look at Wally's face, "Yeah I was just thinking how nice this was. Where have you been?"

"Well, I went to the bathroom then when I came out a lot of people kept stopping me and congratulating me. And I had to be polite and talk to them back."

I scoffed a bit, "Please, you _love_to talk Kid-Mouth." I smiled at the old nickname I used to call him.

Wally laughed a bit, "True, but I also wanted to get back to my new wonderful, short-tempered wife." He then leaned down and kissed her.

"Hm, short-tempered, eh?" She mock glared at him, "That's not nice calling your wife that."

"Truth hurts doesn't it?" He joked around.

In response she hit him on the arm, sticking her tongue out and said sarcastically, "Ha, ha."

"Ouch, I was just joking," He rubbed his arm lightly, pretending it hurt more than it actually did, "Kiss it and make it better?"

Artemis laughed at how childish he was acting, "I'm not going to kiss your shirt."

"Please? It really hurts." Wally started play pouting and gave her the puppy dog eyes.

Artemis sighed, wondering why she married such a child then chuckled a bit, "Fine, you win." She kissed his arm.

"You know… my neck kinda hurts too," He said.

"Oh really?"  
>"Yeah, you should do something about that." Wally winked.<p>

"Well then, I guess I'll have to fix that," She lightly kissed his neck a few times, "Better?"

"And my lips, they hurt too," He playfully pouted again.

Artemis laughed softly before kissing him on the lips. Wally tightened his hold on her waist and Artemis wrapped her arms around his neck. They pulled apart, panting slightly. Wally kissed her forehead before resting his head on it, and both were grinning from ear to ear.

"I love you Mrs. West," Wally's grin grew even bigger.

"I love you too," I closed my eyes and sighed happily.

_When you're young and in love, yeah,_  
><em>you might do some things that don't seem all that smart,<em>  
><em>'cause there ain't no greater distance than<br>the eighteen inches from your head to your heart._

It's been about a month since they came back from their honeymoon and Wally and Artemis were still happily married. Wally was out shopping for groceries and Artemis was sitting on the couch eating left over Chinese food from two days ago. When she finished she didn't feel too well and ran to the bathroom feeling like she was going to throw up. And sure enough when she reached the toilet she threw up her lunch.

She's been throwing up for the past couple of days but wasn't sure why. She didn't feel sick and she didn't have a fever. Artemis opened the cabinet under the sink to get the mouth wash; her hand grazed a bag as she pulled it out. It was a bag of tampons. Mentally she checked when she last had her period. She dropped the bottle of mouth wash and covered her mouth with both hands when she realized she hasn't had her period in over a month.

Slightly panicking, she grabbed her keys and ran to the nearest pharmacy to get a pregnancy test. She bought four of them, each a different brand, just in case. When she got back home she ran to the bathroom and peed on all four of the little sticks. As Artemis sat on the floor waiting for the time to be up, she was thinking about whether she was ready to have a child or not. Artemis was slightly scared. What if she wasn't a good mother? What if she turned out like her dad? What if Wally didn't want to have a kid? What if her child hated her? A million thoughts plagued her mind.

Finally, the minutes were up and she looked at all four tests. Each one had a pink plus sign. Positive. She was pregnant.

Wally walked into the apartment ten minutes later with groceries in his hand. He set them down in the kitchen then looked around for his wife. He frowned when he saw the dirty plate and glass on the coffee table and no Artemis sitting on the couch. He walked to the bathroom, hoping she wasn't throwing up again. She's been doing that a lot lately and it's been making him scared. What if she was seriously sick?

When he opened the door, he didn't expect to see what he found. He saw Artemis sitting on the floor, staring blankly out into space with a bottle of mouth wash spilled on the floor. "Artemis… are you ok?" He felt her forehead for a fever, "You're not sick, are you?"

Artemis barely registered the question and just simply pointed at the four little sticks. He followed her finger to see what she was pointing at and picked up one of the sticks. It said she was pregnant. He dropped it in surprise.

"What is this?" Wally asked dumbly, still in shock.

"A pregnancy test, Kid-Idiot," She called him another one of his old nicknames, getting kind of scared and a bit mad.

Artemis just stared at him, trying to see his reaction to the news. Was he happy? Mad? Scared? But then she saw the edges of his mouth twitch up slightly, slowly grinning.

"Are…you mad?" This was her biggest worry.

"Mad? Are you kidding me? Were gonna be parents!" Wally said enthusiastically.

"So you do want to keep it?" She asked still unsure, but a small smile found its way on her mouth.

"Of course! We're going to have a little Artemis running around the house, why wouldn't I want to keep it?" He asked, looking even more excited about the idea.

"Well it could also be a little Wally, you know." She said.

"No they would look much cuter if they looked like you. Besides red hair isn't very attractive," Wally said, shaking his head a bit.

"Are you kidding? I love your hair," Artemis ruffled his hair a bit.

Wally playfully smacked her hand away, "No they would be made fun of all the time. Besides I'd rather have a girl that looked like you."

"Oh so you want it to be a girl?"

He blushed a bit and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah..."

"I hope it's a girl too." Artemis kissed him, glad that he was ok with having a child. She was excited now also, there were still some worries but she knew she wouldn't go through this alone. And that made her feel better.

_Last thing they need is another mouth to feed, but they want one,_  
><em>just kids themselves but that's all to change in nine more months,<em>

It's been nine months now. Artemis was sleeping, peacefully when she felt a slight pain in her stomach. It hurt so bad that it woke her up. Artemis glanced at the clock seeing that it was three thirty in the morning, she sighed rubbing her stomach, "Why do you always kick at night?"

When she felt the pain again five minutes later, she knew that it wasn't because her child was kicking. She gasped in pain and squeezed her eyes shut. Suddenly she felt the sheets become wet and started panicking. Shaking Wally awake she said, "Babe? Wake up!" When he didn't respond she smacked his head and yelled in his ear, "WALLY! WAKE UP! NOW!"

This got his attention and he groggily opened his eyes, "What?"

Before she could answer more pain shot through her stomach and she cried out, gripping the sheets tight.

"Are you alright?" Wally asked suddenly very awake.

Shaking her head she whispered, "My water broke."

"Oh shit! We need to go to the hospital! Where's the bag with the clothes? Oh man, the baby's coming! C'mon!" Wally rushed around the room, freaking out a bit. Then he walked out of the room and out the front door.

"Wally! Are you forgetting something?" Artemis yelled, still sitting in the bed.

He walked back in the room, "What… Oh yeah! The bag, duh!" He smacked his forehead.

"WALLY!" She yelled, getting angry, "I meant me! Kinda hard to move when you're pregnant!"

Wally rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Oh, right… sorry."

When Artemis was finally in the car, Wally sped to the hospital with his wife screaming in pain and cursing at him. After they walked through the front door, Wally asked for a wheelchair and screamed that she was about to have a baby. The nurses immediately got her a wheelchair and rolled her to a room with Wally not far behind.

Artemis was in labor for 12 long hours. She screamed at the nurses and blamed Wally. Finally, a relief to the nurses and Wally, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at three thirty in the afternoon. The baby weighed seven pounds and was eighteen inches long. After the nurses cleaned off the baby, and wrapped her in a pink blanket with a pink matching hat they let Artemis hold her new baby girl. Artemis got teary eyed looking at the baby, she had short tufts of dark red hair, grey blue eyes, her mouth and cheekbones and Wally's nose. She looked adorable.

Wally sat down on the edge of the bed with one arm wrapped around Artemis's shoulders and one hand stroking his daughter's cheek. Wally couldn't stop smiling and his vision was also becoming blurry.

"What do you want to name her?" Wally asked, they never really decided on a name. Artemis kept saying she'd know what to call their baby as soon as she saw her.

"How about…" Artemis paused to think a moment, "Annabelle… Annabelle Marie. I like that name, what do you think?"

"Annabelle Marie West," Wally said to himself smiling, "I think it sounds perfect."

"Good, 'cause we're not changing it." Artemis said tiredly.

Wally laughed while rubbing her arm, with his arm still around her, saying "Get some sleep Beautiful."

Artemis nodded off to sleep with Annabelle safely wrapped in her arms, who was also asleep cuddling up to her mom.

_she wakes him up at three thirty in the morning,_  
><em>ready or not their new life's going to start,<em>  
><em>seven pounds and eighteen inches,<em>  
><em>the doctor lays that new baby's head right on her heart.<em>

Another five years passed by and it was Annabelle's fifth birthday. Wally and Artemis threw Annabelle a big surprise party. Her daughter had no idea and was really excited when she saw all her friends and close family waiting for her in the living room. Annabelle was just like her dad in so many ways; she loved to talk, loved to eat, was energetic, and always cracked jokes. She was like her mom in many ways too; they had the same temper, stubbornness and intelligence. But no matter how close the two were, Annabelle was a total daddy's girl.

"Wow, thanks Uncle Robin and Aunt Zatanna!" Annabelle yelled when she opened her gift. It was giant panda bear holding a big bag full of candy.

"No problem, Kido." Robin said, rubbing her head.

"Just don't eat all the candy at once or your mom with kill me, okay?" Zatanna asked while giving Annabelle a hug.

"Sure." She said and opened the bag of candy.

"Yep, she's definitely going to kill me." Zatanna said to Robin.

He laughed and said, "Well, if she's anything like Wally when he's hyper then it was nice knowing you."

Zatanna smacked his arm playfully, "So not funny!"

"You better believe it's not funny," Artemis said laughing, "Last Halloween she was running up the walls and bouncing everywhere, it took two hours to calm her down before she crashed on the couch. When she's not looking I am so hiding that bag."

"But it's her birthday, Arty! You have to let her have some candy!" said Robin.

"She's had enough sugar already. She ate three slices of cake, ten cookies, a bowl of ice-cream topped with Oreos, fudge, M&M's, and whipped cream, along with the candy you just bought her. I have no idea where she puts it all or how she doesn't have any cavities by now."

"Wow, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it?" Zatanna joked.

Wally walked up to the three of them smiling, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Annabelle. And you." Artemis said.

"Oh, is that so?" Wally asked

"Yep. We're talking about what a pig you are and how Annabelle is becoming more and more like you each day." Artemis said.

"Wow thanks," Wally said sarcastically, "But she is like me isn't she?"

"More than you know." Zatanna said.

"She's like you only pint sized… and she's also a girl." Robin joked.

"And she's also cuter than you." Artemis joked.

Wally fake gasped and put a hand over his heart with a fake pained expression on his face, "You take that back!"

"Hm… nope! It's true, you got replaced." Artemis laughed lightly.

Wally fake gasped again, "How could you!" He grabbed Artemis by the waist and brought her close to him smiling, then leaned down and kissed her.

"You're still not cuter."

"Oh yeah?" Wally kissed her again, "How about now?"

"Hm, let me think about that," Artemis pretended to think, "Nope, she is still much more adorable."

"Oh, I see how it is…" Wally mock glared before kissing her a third time with more passion. They broke apart after remembering that they were at their daughter's birthday party and not by themselves.

"Nice to see you guys stopped sucking face in front of the kids." Robin laughed.

"Yeah, keep it PG rated guys." Zatanna laughed too.

Wally and Artemis blushed and turned really red. "Oh shut up! Like you guys don't kiss in public. Do I have to remind you of the last party we went to? You both got wasted and were making out on the table. Not a sight we wanted to see."

It was Robin and Zatanna's turn to blush deep red.

"…Shut up." Robin muttered.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Wally said, smirking.

The two walked off to talk to Conner and Megan, who was currently five months pregnant. Wally turned his attention back to Artemis and wrapped his arms around her waist. He gave her peck on the lips then rested his forehead on hers, looking into her eyes smiling.

"I love you, Arty." Wally said with a grin.

"Love you too, Wallman." Artemis also sported a grin.

Artemis was really happy with her life. She didn't want to change a thing; she had a beautiful daughter, great friends and a nice family. She was really glad she made that decision to run away with Wally all those years ago. Artemis didn't know what she would do without him.

_When you're young and in love, yeah,_  
><em>you might do some things that don't seem all that smart,<em>  
><em>but thank God for those eighteen inches,<em>  
><em>the distance it is from your head to your heart, yeah, yeah, yeah.<em>

**What did you think? Good? Bad? Okay?**

**Please review! I'd love to know how I did. I feel like they are OOC at times but it might or might not just be me.**

**~Cally**


End file.
